Mapping Hacks

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Chapter 5, Mapping with Gadgets

#48 Accessorize Your GPS

HACK

I was able to make use of the knife and the watch, but if there had been a

GPS in the pile, I would have cried over the waste of now-ruined technol-

ogy. Fortunately there is a simple answer: a floating waterproof bag. See

http://www.waterproofcases.net for a line of waterproof cases that start at

$24.99. Or do a Google search for “GPS case” and scan the 9,140 results.

Mounting the GPS

Handheld GPSes are nice in your hand but leave a bit to be desired when

you try to add them to your bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, or Burning

Man art car. In these cases, you need a GPS mount. Fortunately there are a

lot of options.

For years, I have had a strip of Velcro on the bottom of my GPS and Velcro

pads on each side of the front of my cars. Driver or passenger, I’m never far

from my personal digital carrier pigeon.

A less useful technique with the Garmin Rino is to string a strip of Velcro

through the small hole between the antennas, wrap that around your steer-

ing wheel, and Velcro it shut. This appears to work for long periods, but

when the Velcro loosens, as it will when you turn a corner, the GPS will flop

down into your lap, causing you to experience great driving difficulty and

almost run into a parked car.

Trust me on this one. Velcroing the GPS to your steering wheel seems like a

good idea, since it keeps the GPS handy right at a spot ...